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[disnut8]

And not in a good way.  I think our state just went way into trailer trash history.  A 37 year old woman in is jail right now because she got married.  Legitimately, too.  To a 15 year old boy.  Yes, there is a Georgia law that says anyone under the age of 16 has to have parental or guardian consent before the marriage is allowed.  The boy's guardian, his grandmother, gave no consent.  So why is the marriage legal?

There's one glaring loophole.  If the bride is pregnant, no consent is needed.  The woman is way pregnant.  So the marriage is legal but she's jailed for having sexual relations with her now husband.  Is that like something warped or what?  The magistrate who performed the ceremony didn't have a choice - it was legal.  The day after the happy event, the bride was in jail and the groom is in a juvenile detention facility for "an unrelated charge".

This is just too weird for even Jerry Springer or Geraldo.  Falls under the category of "what the f*** were they thinking?"

[Vengeance]

Even though it's stupid, they really shouldn't have thrown her in jail. If the marriage was legal then they're sexual relations should be covered by that. This is just the state's way of putting their own moral judgements on people.

I don't agree with the relationship, but I disagree even more with the police involvement.

[Supermercado]

I saw this on CNN this morning and was like "wtf mate." But I do agree... according to the law, the marriage is legal and the police shouldn't be stepping in to force some yahoo's moral standards on the two. The only question, I guess, and I don't really know how the law works in this regard, is that she could theoretically be brought up on charges for statutory rape or something. Or not? I thought the legal age of consent was 16 or something, but I think even that varies by state.

[disnut8]

I believe the charge is child endangerment.

Scary thing is that we go through this area all the time - RichN drives almost to Cumming every day to get to work.  It's not like these people live up in the mountains with stills and stuff.  Evidently, the boy was friends with his now wife's son (they are the same age - eeewwww).  The grandmother said the boy was over at their house all the time.  Wonder what the wife's son thinks of all this?  And get this - they aren't releasing the name of the boy because he's underage.  But they are splashing his grandmother's name and picture all over the paper and she ain't exactly a shy type.  Think everyone at school will be able to figure out just who the boy is?

Gives a whole new meaning to our new slogan for Atlanta - "Atlanta - where every day is opening day".

[Vengeance]

I guess the matter really boils down to what this boy thinks about everything. I think that someone needs to find out exactly where he's coming from to decide if this is a case of child sexual abuse or just a boy who is mature for his age.

Maybe my biggest beef is with the law about allowing the marriage. I think they need to get rid of that rule if they want to try and pursue the statutory rape angle.

I mean they can't have it both ways.

On the psychological front, no 15-year-old is mature enough to make the decision to have sex with a woman more than twice his age. He was used and he'll need help to deal with it one day unless he gets support from his family and chooses to stay with this woman and make the marriage really work.

Jail time and separation is just going to force him to re-evaluate things sooner than he should. I really think the state is putting his mental health in danger here. And his grandmother should be ashamed of herself for talking to the media at all. It sickens me when people climb on the backs of their children or grandchildren to achieve their fifteen minutes of fame.

[disnut8]

The charge is child molestation.  In the state of Georgia, it is illegal to have relations with a minor under the age of 16 with intent of sexual gratification for either one or the other or both.  But you can be under the age of 16 and get married without parental consent if the bride is pregnant.

Here's the kicker.  This 37 year old woman might be pregnant but everyone is assuming it's the 15 year old boy's.  Think about.  She could be pregnant with someone else's child but the marriage would still be legal AND there's no child molestation.  Where the hell else can this even be considered except in Georgia.  Bible Belt my ass.

The reporters are all camped out in lawn chairs outside the Cumming jail waiting for the woman to be released - so far, no one has posted the $10,000 bond.

First we get a bride who runs away and now we get a bride who should have run away.

[disnut8]

Vengeance will love this.  The grandmother of the 15 year old boy appeared on Good Morning America today, vowing to get the marriage annulled.  Said she doesn't want to even see the 37 year old's "ugly mug" on TV.  So why is the grandmother on TV?  Why didn't that grandmother, the legal guardian, realize her grandson was having sexual relations with a woman he spent nearly every weekend with because she could give him things his grandmother couldn't afford?  Why is the 15 year old boy in juvenile detention now for burglarizing a home?

I am not condoning a 37 year old woman having a sexual relationship with a 15 year old boy but this grandmother has got to take some responsibility for the upbringing of the boy.  Instead, she's milking this for all it's worth.  Sickens me.

[elmono311]

Hehehe, yet again Georgia makes the news. Found this at IMDb:

"The screening of an Oscar-nominated movie about the life of Queen Elizabeth I to students in an advanced class on British literature has resulted in the forced resignation of an admired teacher in the Atlanta suburb of South Gwinnett. On Tuesday, students in Ed Youngblood's class mounted a protest. "If 'First comes learning' is true, why do you get rid of the guy who holds that motto the best?" one senior in the class told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. A spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Public Schools told reporters that Youngblood chose to resign after he was told that an investigation had begun into the screening of the R-rated film, 1998's Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett in the title role. "Mr. Youngblood did not ask for a local review of the film prior to showing it, nor did he allow parents the option of opting their students out of the viewing," she told the Gwinnett Daily Post. Youngblood, who had taught at the school for 37 years, said that he was given five minutes to choose between resigning or being fired. "I didn't think about it being R-rated," Youngblood said. "It's such a good movie." (Besides receiving seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, Elizabeth also won the BAFTA award for best British Film, a best actress award for Blanchett and a supporting-actor award for Geoffrey Rush.)"

I know when they showed R rated movies in my school, they sent home a permission form before they showed it. Of course, I could understand this guy not thinking about the movie being R rated since some movies only need to be judged by its academic content and not its rating (for example: Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List). I did once see a school-edited version of Glory one time and didn't like the fact they took out the part where the officer's head gets blown off. It's a part of war. Keep it in.

[disnut8]

I almost posted this myself and then thought "I've focused in on Georgia quite enough for one week - hell, even one day".

The school's position is that the teacher didn't follow procedure which was to get the film advanced approved by the board.  Any "unapproved" materials have to go through a screening process.  It's usually not a big deal and notices would be sent home with the students for an R rated film.  The teacher was full time for 37 years and retired after that school year.  He now only teaches part time.

I can see the teacher not realizing the film was R rated - I never paid any attention to the ratings even when elmono was a kid.  About the only thing I ever shielded him from was the bunny scene in Fatal Attraction.  I sent him out of the room because I thought he would be upset with Bunny Homicide.

I can also understand the school's position.  The teacher didn't follow procedures.  But it's unclear about how they handled the situation.  Honestly, I don't think the punishment fits the crime.  Yeah, it was wrong but maybe a suspension was more in order.  If this was an honest mistake after 37 years.

I won't even go into what I thought about society's meaning of "sexual content" these days.  I'll save that for the TV & Movies forum and when I'm calmed down. 

[elmono311]

Yeah, I think the punishment was rather harsh for what he did. So sex ed videos are okay to show but an Oscar nominated film is not?

[disnut8]

I think the thing that gets my goat with all this is that the current AND past students are saying this teacher should not have been fired or threatened with forced resignment.  The statements made by the students all are the same.  The teacher was tough.  But he was fair and taught well.  One student who is now in college has said that his high school history class taught by this teacher was tougher than any college course he's had yet.

How often do you hear about students saying a teacher needs to come back to teach, teach tough and fair?  These people WANT to be challenged and it sounds like, except for showing an Oscar winning R rated movie, he does that on a daily basis.  Trust me, with Georgia in 50th place in SAT scores, this was a stupid, stupid, stupid move.

Oh well - at least one thing went right in Georgia this week.  They fined all the gas gouging stations that jacked their prices up after Katrina.  Not only fined them but if you still have your receipt from that time, you get reimbursed by the station through the state.  Lesson learned.

[elmono311]

Ouch.